Greetings From Amsterdam,

We have an investigation that made international headlines to share this week, as well as two examples of real-world impact from our previous reporting. 

But first, we have some exciting news: OCCRP has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize!

Professor Wolfgang Wagner at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, who’s eligible to make a nomination, said in his letter that "OCCRP contributes to peace by unmasking political corruption and organized crime."

We’re honored to have been nominated for one of the world’s most prestigious awards. But perhaps more importantly, it is encouraging to know that some people realize how investigative journalism contributes towards building a more equitable, just, and peaceful society. 

Now, time to share some of the big happenings in the fight against corruption: 

NEW INVESTIGATIONS

🇷🇺 Kremlin-Linked Group Arranged Payments to European Politicians to Support Russia’s Annexation of Crimea 🇪🇺

The European Union imposed sanctions on Russia after it annexed Crimea in 2014. Then several legislative bodies in Europe began passing motions that advocated for dropping those sanctions.

It turns out that many of the politicians behind these resolutions were in touch with Kremlin propagandists, leaked emails show.

We also discovered that the Kremlin-linked influence operation arranged payments for the European politicians in exchange for their cooperation. 

Here’s what we found:

☝️ The Main Investigation // 🇮🇹 Success in Italy // 🇨🇾 Success in Cyprus

🌐 The Big Picture: This investigation reveals how old-fashioned corruption could have played a part in efforts by European politicians –– particularly those from far-right and far-left parties –– to legitimize Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

🤔 Our Data and Sources: This investigation was based on emails obtained by a Ukrainian hacker group that shared them publicly. 

In November, the European Court of Justice dealt a huge blow to the anti-corruption movement when it sided with the plaintiff in a critical case over corporate transparency.

Who was he? A Luxembourg man who, we found, has a strong interest in preserving corporate secrecy — at least 117 companies that he directed or owned, many in offshore jurisdictions.

🤔 Our Data and Sources: This investigation is based on hundreds of corporate documents and loan agreements, many of which came from the Pandora Papers leak.

>> Read the full story

THE OCCRP NETWORK

🇷🇺 IStories: Our Russian member center obtained a leak of documents that show the inner workings of a key agency in the Kremlin’s censorship regime: Roskomnadzor, which decides who’s a “foreign agent,” a label that has been used to silence independent journalists and activists.

🇳🇬 ​​Premium Times: Our Nigerian member center spoke with an Indian diplomat about what Nigeria can learn from India when it comes to engaging with their respective diasporas. 

🇭🇺 Atlatszo: Our Hungarian member center reports on how the Ministry of Foreign Affairs purchased unnecessary ventilators to treat COVID-19 patients, even though the country already had a stockpile of them.

OCCRP HAS IMPACT

🇬🇧 LLCInvest: The U.K. sanctioned a Russian IT company that, OCCRP revealed last year, played a key role in holding wealth for Russian elites.

One of the domains it hosted was “LLCinvest.ru,” which OCCRP used to identify a network of companies that owned properties connected to Vladimir Putin. 

🇺🇸 Riviera Maya Gang: When we investigated a Romanian criminal syndicate that stole over $1 billion from rigged ATM machines, mainly in Mexico, we decided to dub the group the Riviera Maya Gang, after the region where their headquarters were based.

Court documents show that the FBI has now embraced the moniker :)

MORE CORRUPTION AND ORGANIZED CRIME NEWS

🇨🇭 Switzerland’s banking sector was shaken after our Suisse Secrets investigation revealed how corrupt elites, mafia bosses, and intelligence officials were banking at Credit Suisse.

Now Swiss prosecutors have launched an investigation of their own — to find who leaked the data.


🇬🇧 A new U.K. law required all offshore companies with property in the country to declare their beneficial owners on January 31. Only four in 10 complied. 


🇨🇾 Cyprus’s notorious “golden passport” scheme allowed foreigners to obtain EU citizenship in return for investment.

Now, five beneficiaries of the scheme have been sanctioned by the U.S. for allegedly operating a Russian arms network.


🇺🇦 Ukraine will replace Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov after he was implicated in a high-profile corruption scandal. His Defense Ministry was found to be signing off on food contracts to feed frontline troops at inflated prices.


🇪🇨 Ecuadorian mayoral candidate Omar Menéndez was shot dead shortly before polls opened on Sunday. He’s the second candidate to be assassinated in local elections marred by violence.


🇺🇸 In the United States, a former manager at Coinbase, a major cryptocurrency exchange platform, pleaded guilty to fraud charges as part of an insider trading scheme, in which he could access information about crypto assets before they were made public.